Republicans liken Gerry Adams to Nelson Mandela

Irish Republicans are claiming the arrest of Gerry Adams is akin to the
imprisonment of anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela

By Claire Duffin

9:00PM BST 03 May 2014

Irish Republicans attempted to compare Gerry Adams’s plight with that of Nelson Mandela, as Martin McGuinness described the treatment of Sinn Féin’s leader as a “total and absolute disgrace”.

Hundreds of nationalists gathered in Belfast to mark the unveiling of a new 20ft mural of Mr Adams, who was arrested last week over the 1972 murder of Jean McConville. They held posters with a photograph of the Sinn Féin leader together with Mandela, South Africa’s former president and freedom fighter, accompanied by the slogan “defend the peace process, release Gerry Adams”.

Mr McGuinness, the deputy first minister in Stormont, used the rally in Falls Road to denounce Mr Adams’s arrest. He claimed it was part of an attempt by some police officers to settle old scores and blamed an “embittered rump” of the old Royal Ulster Constabulary within its replacement, the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

Mr Adams, 65, spent his fourth night in custody on Saturday after police were granted a further 48 hours to question him on Friday.

He was arrested on Wednesday in connection with the 1972 abduction and murder of Mrs McConville, a mother of 10, after two former IRA members alleged he had ordered her murder in secret testimonies held by Boston College in the United States.

Addressing the crowds yesterday, Mr McGuinness said: “Gerry Adams is my friend. Gerry Adams is the leader of Sinn Féin. And, in my opinion, Gerry Adams stands head and shoulders above all of those who helped build this peace process.”

A crowd gathered at the new Gerry Adams Mural on Divis Street in Belfast (Alamy)

He added: “For someone of his calibre, of his leadership to find himself where he is today on the basis of discredited tapes from Boston is a total and absolute disgrace.”

Mr Adams has always denied any involvement in Mrs McConville’s death, or even being a member of the IRA.

In recent days Mr McGuinness has accused “dark” forces within the police of deliberately timing the arrest to damage the run-up to local and European elections.

Bobby Storey, the IRA’s alleged former head of intelligence, also addressed the crowds on Saturday. He said Sinn Féin’s political success was behind the arrest of Mr Adams. “The reason we are here today is because of the surge of Sinn Féin across this island,” he said. “We have a message for the British Government, for the Irish government, for the cabal that is out there: we haven’t gone away you know.”

Earlier in the day, David Ford, Stormont’s justice minister, told the BBC’s Today programme that the arrest was “entirely appropriate”.

"Free Adams" is seen written on a wall on the Falls Road, West Belfast, Northern Ireland (Peter Morrison/ AP)

“It is normal practice that if somebody is likely to be arrested in the course of an inquiry, that they are arrested at the start of discussions,” he said. “I don’t know whether Gerry Adams thought he was going to turn up at Antrim’s serious crime suite, have a wee chat for half an hour and then go off again, but clearly, on the scale of the concerns expressed, of the information – which I entirely accept is not yet evidence – it was entirely appropriate that it should be followed up in the normal way.”

A police spokesman said: “Police have a duty to impartially investigate serious crime including murder. It is the police’s duty to make relevant inquiries, interview those with information, arrest and question suspects and, in consultation with the PPS, to either charge or submit a file to the PPS in relation to the investigation. This procedure is being followed in this case.”

Mrs McConville, 37, was dragged from her home by the IRA in 1972, shot and buried in a secret spot after she was wrongly suspected of informing to the security forces.